


growing pains

by konstel (ayrom)



Category: Pikanchi Life is Hard Dakedo Happy (2002)
Genre: Family Issues, Gen, Self Confidence Issues, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24668752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayrom/pseuds/konstel
Summary: Snippets of Takuma's life, and how he feels about continuing it.
Kudos: 1





	growing pains

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd, oops

“What are your aspirations after you graduate high school?”

He thinks of Harajuku, of Bon’s dream to own a corner apartment, of his thimble fingers swiping products from shelves, of his mother's disappointed expression every time he comes home with his skateboard. For someone like him, there's not much he can do but dream.

Takuma shrugs, glancing away from his teacher's gaze. He decides on a nondescript, tangible answer. 

“None.”

Surely, the teacher must've heard this from Shun, too. Or any other batch of hopeless students, just like him in this tiny town of Yashio. 

The teacher drops his head, sighs in defeat. “Takuma-kun…”

“I don't have any, sensei,” Takuma insists. “I really don't.”

“Then, what will you do when your parents need _you_ to support them?” the teacher asks, looking back at Takuma with furrowed brows.

Takuma thinks of his father's apathy towards him, of his mother’s disappointment towards him, of their arguments concerning finance, of the times he'd come home and wished he didn't have to come back at all.

“Nothing,” he answers with finality. Absolute finality.

~

Chu is cool, albeit a little noisy. He's unbelievably kind to his friends, even when he has this image of being an asshole to everyone he sees. It's why he still shells out the money when they go out to eat together, it's why Chu's willing to do anything a normal friend won't.

Today, Chu’s bought deep-fried ham cutlets from a niche little stand next to Gau's. Even if it was only one-eighty in total, it still is money spent. 

“Boo, you're so stingy,” Chu grouses, jabbing a finger into Takuma’s face. “We're always the one paying, you're totally unfair.”

Takuma feels his heart drop.

All he's had this week was five-hundred. It's nothing compared to how much money Haru has from working or Bon’s unjust weekly allowance of fifteen-thousand from his loving parents. 

They never care about how much money they shell out every outing, because in the end, they'll get it back with no worry. Bon's too nice to his friends to know when to stop and Haru’s just plain gullible.

Treating them all to a meal is something he wishes to do someday, when he thinks about it.

Takuma pushes Chu’s wrist away and rolls his eyes. “Who was the one who got you those Tomosaki Aki tapes?” he rebuts in reply.

“...you.” Chu slumps, exhaling smoke from his cigarette in defeat.

“Exactly, so stop whining about me.”

~

Arguably, the one with the most sense after Takuma himself is Shun. Even if he's kind of shit with girls and spends all his time reading Vento Andromeda or whatever, Takuma finds himself leaning on Shun from time to time.

“Mm, don't you think it'd be great to titty-fuck a girl?” Shun wonders aloud, sliding over a magazine spread of a woman with a large bust. His finger circles around the lines of her nipples. “Like, they'd just go boing-boing-boing and you can watch.”

“As if you can find anyone from this place with a rack as big as hers,” Takuma says dryly, keeping his attention on his on magazine of gyaru girls. “And I think you should get yourself to fuck a girl first before trying something like tit-fucking.”

“Oi, you're a virgin too!”

“At least I know how to speak to girls. I'm sure I'll be able to grab some girl's attention and lose my v-card before any of us d—”

Shun interrupts Takuma by locking him into a noogie, completely oblivious to Takuma’s hacks and wheezes. “You might as well become a call boy with that logic!” Shun says, digging his knuckles deeper.

Even with Shun's bony joints prodding into his forehead, Takuma thinks it's not a bad idea. Maybe he'll be richer and happier that way, even if it means he has to cast away the idea of first times being special.

He's sure there's some wealthy cougar looking for a youthful boy fresh out of high school once he graduates.

~

His mother’s eyes hold no affection when he arrives home at night once more.

“Skateboarding again?” she asks, her anger blasé from all the times she's asked before. She sighs, wipes her hands with a kitchen towel and turns away. “I give up. Go eat. I don't understand why I try anymore.”

Takuma swallows hard as he sets his skateboard in the entrance. He treads over with care, over to the small bowl of rice, a half-empty bottle of shoyu and an egg on his desk with no other side dishes. 

So it's one of those nights.

“Thank you for the food,” Takuma mumbles under his breath, before he cracks the egg into his rice and makes himself tamago-kake-gohan. Even if he hates eating raw food. 

~

“What did you have for dinner yesterday?”

It slips out of his mouth the next day before Takuma realises it, and before he can pass it off as a mumble or a thought voiced allies in, Haru hums in reply.

“Pizza,” Haru answers softly, rubbing his stomach in satisfaction. “Half-pepperoni, half-Hawaiian. We didn't finish it all, though.”

Takuma feels his stomach rumble a little in envy. “Sounds like it was good. You’re gonna eat the leftovers for lunch?”

“Probably.” Haru shrugs. “Mama ordered a large one, so even then I wouldn't be able to finish it n—”

He's taken aback when Haru's face lights up, his usual sleepy pout replaced by a wide smile. Haru grabs Takuma by the shoulders and smiles so wide his eyes turn to creases.

“Takuma should help me finish it so there won't be any left for Mama!” Haru suggests with a twinkle in his eyes. “She took my stuff again, so it's the perfect form of revenge!”

It takes Takuma by surprise; he has to blink several times for the words to settle in his mind.

“Sure,” he says, a little out of breath. He repeats it, still surprised. “Sure.”

“Let's go before she gets home!”

~

Bon is too nice to hate, but his obliviousness to Takuma’s situation is getting on his nerves.

The next time Bon says, “Just go and buy it,” to his face when he's talking about an expensive item, Takuma’s gonna bring a skateboard to Bon’s stupid smiling face. No hard feelings.

~

His mother's never liked it whenever people mentioned his tendency to swipe things away to her. Perhaps it's the possible fact that Takuma’s reached the point in his pathetic life that he needs to commit a crime, or perhaps it's the possible fact Takuma doesn't have anything else to do with his pathetic life. Spending a few years in jail seemed more fun to him rather than going to university and plummeting in student debt.

That is, even if he manages to get into a university that'll accept him.

Shun’s got plans to go to Aoyama, yet Takuma still has nothing. Maybe it's the cynicalism and negativity of his teenage angst-filled heart that convinces him Shun can go to Aoyama, because hey, his dad loves him and they've got money, which means Shun's never felt hopeless about his life.

So yeah, it's natural for Takuma to be feeling bitter about it. Even if his mother and father insisted he'd try out for even one of the worst universities, it's not like they'd instantly have the money to pay for the tuition, the commute, the events. Shun has that, though. So does Bon.

So yeah, it's natural that Takuma starts thinking Chu and Haru are as hopeless as him, too. It might seem like an insult, but to Takuma, it's more of a comfort. That there are other people who will never accomplish something wonderful, something only possible with lucky chances.

So yeah, it's natural that Takuma hates himself for it.

But in the end, it's also natural for one of them to start despising their self-pity party. One of them has to show they can be a functional member of society, even if they're considered to be nothing but trash. It's how it inspires people.

It's why Bon can go abroad and continue his dream of being a chef, it's why Chu can give up his delinquent lifestyle to have a better life, it's why Haru can hook up with cougars twice his age, all because of Shun wanting to go to Aoyama.

And Takuma feels like shit for not believing he can be anything more than the mischievous, egotistical skateboarding teenager of Yashio.

~

…but it doesn't mean he's going to be the mischievous, egotistical skateboarding teenager only in Yashio.

California is waiting for him, and so are his friends.


End file.
